Assessing the Effect of Racial Bias on Approval of Health Care Reform Proposals: A Survey of Attitudes toward Politicians and their Policies

Abstract

Given our society stands to overcome immense racial disparities in health care with reform legislation, there is a gap in our collective understanding of how and why racial bias affects the policy process in our national legislature. The current study examines how racial bias has affected health reform proposals put forth by politicians across two landmark pieces of health policy: the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, and a recent Medicare for All Congressional bill. Participants' levels of approval of President Obama, President Obama’s policies, Governor Romney’s similar policies, and Medicare for All bills framed by either Black American or White American Congresspeople were measured. Participants’ political ideologies and levels of modern racism, social dominance orientation, and right-wing authoritarianism were measured, along with 2012 voting behavior. The results demonstrate that these sentiment scales largely predict greater opposition toward policies proposed by Black American politicians even when controlling for political ideology. The effect of these scales is overshadowed by political polarization in the Medicare for All framing, indicating health reform moving forward is a more contentious political topic than it once was.